The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1887-05-19
MAKING CHOCOLATE.
THE PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING
THE COCOA CAKES OF COMMERCE.
Picking Out Bad Kernels and Defective
Berries-13ruising and Mixing the Cocoa
and the Sugar-The Last Working.
Finished Tablets. e i


The first operation is the picking ever.
The cocoa bean comes in bags. 1t is
shaken to get rid of any foreign bodies
which may have gotten mixed i'll at the
time of gathering-pebhles, bits of wood
and leaves.
At the same time bad kernels and de-
fective berries are spied out. The sieve
which is used in this operation is Il most
wonderful affair, the berries and sticks
end stones falling through the holes which
they fit and thus being quite separated.
The sorted cocoa is then broken up in q
sort Of mill, each separate chopper" hold
ing about 80 Kilograms. The operation,
which lasts from three-quarters Of an
hour to an hour, is very delicate. Upon
It's success depends that Of whole period
of bon-cScn making.
Then comes the winnowing and brrlis-
ing of thu berry i'll machine similar in
use as well as appearance to all old FASH
toned flour mill with its grindstones. 1t
ders, while yentilator blows out the
fragments of skin or SHE'LL and the grain
Of the cocoa, by reason of its weight, falls
below On leaving the machine the cocoa
goes to q new group of ''pickers over"
last and close examination.
COCOA AND SUGAR.
The cocoa is now at the point of be-
coming paste. Ten years ago this change
was accomplished by hand work alone.
The cocoa and sugar-the only ingredients
of healthful, pure chocolate-were
pounded in a mortar by the aid of a pestle,
then spread upon q stone table, gently
ho In, ~,
finished tho bruising and the mixing by
rolling the mass with rolling pin until
the blending was complete.
To-day the bruising and the mixing of
the cocoa antlthe sugar is done mechanic
ally in a.serieS of granite basins. These
basins, hung upon vertical axle, turn
slowly while the cocoa is again being
ground and stirred by two small grind
stones hung above.
The sort of butter which the cocoa berry
contains and the correct temperature
maintained beneath the granite basins
soon brings about the cOmmingling of the
cocoa aud the sugar into q homogeneous
paste. The grinders complete the trans
formation by floating the paste between
two diamond shaped cylinders, also of
granite. This mechanism can be SO regu-
lated as to make the mixture fine or coarse
in quality as may be desired.
After leaving the grinders the chocolate
is placed in drying house, from which il
comes for new going over.
TIE LAST WORKING.
This last working of the paste brings il
into the human hand, which beats it thor
oughly, striking it on the granite table,
thereby giving it its incompatible fine,
ness. This working has also for an object
the bringing of all parts of the paste tt,
the same temperature. Once thoroughly
warmed it is then run through a pipe into
sort of cone, where, by means of a
screw, the last air bubbles are squeezed
out, and it comes forth looking like a
black pudding. There remains nothing
now but the very last appearance of all
that of the tablet. Upon the table where
the molds are placed the workman spreads
his paste out evenly, pressing it down
smoothly in all directions by wide sweeps
of his arm. For this operation no machine
can replace the man. 1t is necessary to
have motions as well calculated and as va
rious as those of the human hand to
give to the paste that brilliancy and
Shine which makes the finished tablets
SO tempting to the eye.
The cakes are nodded while cooling.
They are cooled "down below" on the
tables set up in long subterranean gal
lery made expressly for the purpose-a
veritable tunnel, in fact. Beneath the
tables passes q stream of cool air. At the
end of half an hour the chocolate is cool,
consequently shrunk little and drawn
away from the mold, of which each is, by
the way, the very image.
There remains nothing but to make the
toilet of the cake that it may appear to
the world.-F. b. Merrill in New York
Grilphic.